Overt racism has been replaced with by a kind of unconscious bias “where it is not burning hatred, but there is absolutely no real knowledge or understanding between communities,” says Mo Dhaliwal, chair of the provincial multicultural advisory council.Photo by

The 33-year-old mother of two walked into the nail salon, located in Burnaby’s vibrant Heights shopping district, on a clear spring day hoping for a quick manicure and pedicure.

As a woman of mixed heritage, she says that she has, in the past, been mistaken for a variety of ethnicities, including Japanese and Egyptian. In reality, she’s part First Nations, part Caucasian, and looks, as so many now do, the very blend of colours and features that represents the shifting physical make-up that Canada so prides itself on.

“One of the workers (a white woman) said she could only do one or the other because they were too busy,” the woman recalled recently. “I wanted both, so I asked her if she could recommend another place nearby. She said ‘Just don’t go to any of the Asian places.’ My initial reaction was ‘Wow, how inappropriate.’ How can you say that to a complete stranger? What if I was Asian? How does she know that I’m not? I could be half. And she was pretty loud about it, too.”

For some, it may have meant nothing. But for the Burnaby mom, the comment was a racist one, an example of the subtle, discrimination that many say exists under the veneer of our seemingly tolerant, multicultural society.

It’s an uncomfortable idea and one that challenges the postcard image most of us have of B.C., particularly those living in Metro Vancouver where the streets are full of different colours, languages and faces. But it is there.

A March 2013 survey from the Canadian Race Relations Foundation and the Association for Canadian Studies found that one in four Canadians lack trust in First Nations people. It also found that 35 per cent of respondents lack trust in Muslims.

Another survey from the race relations foundation from 2011 revealed that 46 per cent of Canadians felt racism was on the rise.

This is at a time when national immigration levels are also on the rise. According to Statistics Canada, an estimated 345,220 immigrants landed in B.C. between 2001 and 2011. Of this total, 292,870 settled in Metro Vancouver.

The top source countries are China, India, the Philippines and South Korea, according to the provincial government.

Visible minorities now make up 45 per cent of Metro Vancouver and it’s projected that whites will be the visible minority here within two decades.

An Angus Reid Public Opinion poll from January 2012 showed that Canadians are divided on the effect of immigration, with 39 per cent of respondents saying it has had a positive impact on Canada and 39 per cent saying it has had a negative effect on the country.

B.C. residents were in line with the national sentiment, with 38 per cent expressing a negative view on immigration.

The same poll showed that 32 per cent of respondents felt racism remains a significant problem in Canada. Fifty-two per cent said it is not a problem. But then why do we continue to see it?

“We are not totally rid of racism,” says Ujjal Dosanjh, a former Liberal MP and one-time B.C. premier. “We’ve had this conversation on racism ongoing in the country for a long, long time and most Canadians have become aware that it is not a good thing to be a racist. So racism has gone somewhat underground. And the over-ground form is this political correctness.”

Often, it is not politically correct or subtle. Online, under the cover of anonymity, it can be incredibly direct, as seen in racist remarks posted in the comments section of news sites under certain stories.

Other times, it flares up into larger incidents. That’s when we see such recent headlines as:

Some argue that these expressions of racial intolerance speak to a failure of the cultural mosaic model of multiculturalism we’ve “officially” embraced.

Instead of harmonious co-existence, these examples show very real physical and cultural divisions. As a consequence, we remain divided.

Or, as Mo Dhaliwal, 35, explains it, we exist in a giant Bento Box, where instead of an integrated society we exist in neatly organized compartments, with a subtle, quiet racism and misunderstanding filling the divides.

Dhaliwal, a Punjabi Canadian born and raised in Abbotsford, says he’s experienced first-hand some of this misunderstanding, if not outright racism. In 2003, an event he organized at a Vancouver wine bar was cancelled after the manager met him face to face.

When he asked for an explanation, the manager responded by saying, “You know what you guys are like,” he said.

“It was unfortunate,” says Dhaliwal. “My experience growing up and my experience with my friends or my social circles wasn’t anything close to what this guy was describing. But because I’m associated with this ethnic group, I have to answer for them.”

Another time, in 2012, he was kicked out of an Abbotsford restaurant — and briefly cuffed — by members of the RCMP’s Gang Task Force in an apparent case of racial profiling.

It is when looking at the hard data that the borders of Dhaliwal’s Bento Box become more visible.

According to a July 2012 report by Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the number of so-called “minority group enclaves” in Metro Vancouver — a community where 70 per cent or more of the population is made up a single visible minority group — in 2006 stood at 45. This number, however, is expected to more than double to 103 by the year 2031, the report concluded.

Richmond and Surrey are the two most prominent contemporary examples of these enclaves.

While convenient for new immigrants in that they provide welcoming and safe transition points to their new lives, Dhaliwal argues that these enclaves do more harm than good as they discourage interaction and, in some cases, breed further misunderstanding.

“I’ve heard recent immigrants who have been here for five to eight years and almost pride themselves on the fact that they can move into Surrey and not have to speak a word of English,” said Dhaliwal. “I think there is a lot of comfort that can be derived from that … but the detriment is that it also adds more momentum to this whole lack of understanding.”

Findings of a recent survey by the Vancouver Foundation offer some insight into how Metro Vancouver residents truly feel about interacting with different ethnicities, the responses suggesting that racial divisions continue to exist beneath a veneer of civility.

Of the 3,800 people from different ethnic groups surveyed, 65 per cent agreed that while most people are tolerant of different groups, most prefer to be with people of the same group as their own.

“This means that as a community, we embrace the contributions that different ethnic groups make and the opportunities they afford to enrich our lives but most of us still see our own ethnic group as our ‘in-group,’ said the report, which also found that more than 52 per cent of those surveyed feel there is too much foreign ownership in Vancouver.

Further, when asked which ethnic group would be the most welcomed in your community, Europeans ranked the highest (18%), ahead of Asians (15%) and South Asians (5%), with 37 per cent of respondents saying all groups would be equally welcomed.

Asked which group would be the least welcomed, Middle Easterners (i.e. people from Iraq, Syria, Lebanon) were rated the highest, at 12 per cent, ahead of South Asians (8 per cent), all groups (7 per cent) and Asians (3 per cent).

“We don’t know what is driving this attitude,” the report concluded. “Further study is required to better understand what underpins this feeling.”

Dhaliwal says it is time for more honest discussion about the things that keep us apart so that we may move toward a more open, integrated and inclusive society. And the conversation starts, he said, by addressing one’s own internal prejudices.

“When you don’t understand that you and all the others around you are an integral part of a greater system, your capacity to actually deal with large problems is incredibly diminished,” he said.

Dosanjh agreed.

“I don’t think we can tackle anything from sustainability to economic issues -- you can’t address any of that until you see yourself and others as part of this greater system,” he said.

“I think each of us has demons that we need to contend with. My sense is that I think there is racism in most of our hearts ... in some nook and cranny, even unknown to us, and we need to contend with it.”

Related Posts

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.